Editor's Desk 
Marvel asked Saladin Ahmed to deliver a ‘definitive take’ on Bishop
When Marvel approached Saladin Ahmed about writing Bishop, the assignment came with a deceptively simple mandate: give Lucas Bishop the spotlight.
Ahmed is currently writing both Wolverine and the five-issue Bishop series, but the two books operate very differently within Marvel’s larger X-Men line. Speaking on the AIPT Comics podcast, Ahmed revealed that Marvel specifically wanted a story that could stand on its own as a defining Bishop adventure.
“Marvel was basically like, ‘We need a definitive take on Bishop,’” Ahmed said. “We need to introduce him to people who don’t know him. We need to give the fans the book they’ve wanted, and they didn’t really want an X-Men book. They wanted a Bishop book.”
For Ahmed, that meant pulling a character frequently seen as part of an ensemble away from the larger X-Men machinery and digging into who Lucas Bishop actually is.
“That’s what I wrote, and that’s been a blast,” Ahmed said. “I’m pretty proud of that one.”
Ahmed had previously told AIPT’s X-Men Monday that Marvel came looking for a “definitive take on Bishop,” with the writer particularly interested in cracking open the emotional world of a character who can often appear almost unreadably stoic.
Bishop #4 is out September 23
There was, however, one idea Marvel specifically wanted Ahmed to consider.
“Marvel gave me a pretty wide-open mandate within the, like, ‘Do the Bishop book,’” Ahmed said. “But the one thing they did ask is, ‘Have you thought about Shard?’”
Bishop’s younger sister has become central to the series, returning from immediately before her death and forcing Bishop to choose between protecting the timestream and saving someone he loves. Marvel’s official description of the series places that dilemma at the heart of the story.
The suggestion also gave Ahmed the emotional doorway into Bishop he had been looking for.
“That kind of unlocked a lot for me in terms of both the plot and in terms of the emotional core of the book,” Ahmed said. “Bishop is a character that is so stoic so often, and so often just part of a team lineup. We don’t know a lot about his feelings.”
So Ahmed went straight for one of the most personal relationships in Bishop’s history.
“To me, there’s probably no better way to get at that than to bring somebody’s dead little sister into the picture,” Ahmed said. “So that’s what we did.”
The book has also given Ahmed room to indulge in some decidedly comic-booky fun. The Final Brotherhood features villains combining familiar mutant powers, an idea that scratches a very different creative itch for the writer.
“I love combining power sets,” Ahmed said. “I’ll always be the emotional, deep psychological guy on one hand, but I’ll always just be that nerd that’s mashing action figures together on the other hand.”
Bishop is written by Ahmed with art by Mario Santoro, and the five-issue limited series is currently heading toward its October finale.
Listen to the full chat wherever you get your podcasts, or stream it below!
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